Can Facebook Become THE Uber App? Yes.
I know, I know. Yet another take on Facebook, and this from a slightly long-in-the-tooth, techno Johnny-come-lately. But hear me out, because as a new-comer to the community and one who is clearly NOT representative of its core demographic, I see a way that it could bridge the gap among friends, family and professional relationships while preserving privacy and access on an as-desired basis. And this, from my perspective, could make Facebook THE killer app for all forms of social network management:
Provide the ability to create three sub-profiles, personal, family and work, the contents of which are tagged and stored in a master profile but which are only displayed pursuant to their tags. Provide full integration with LinkedIn with a revenue sharing model, and we’d see LinkedIn use skyrocket by bringing Facebook users into the fold while Facebook could tap into the attractive mature professional demographic that would deepen its data and add valuable, high CPC eyeballs to its user base. Finally, add full email integration in order to open up the messaging layer and facilitate integration with legacy email accounts.
It seems to me that the principal value of Facebook to its users, as with most online applications, is data. My accumulated data. The data I may have taken years to build. Pictures, contacts, notes, groups, etc. Just as with a gamer who has built an identity in WoW and acquired powers and stuff, the legacy one has painstakingly constructed has immense value. The difference, however, is that while a gamer’s identity is fungible, i.e., you can sell your identity, tools, powers, etc. in the market, one’s personal identity is not. This is why Facebook and apps like it, say LinkedIn, where enormous personal investment happens over long periods of time, create stickiness and have the potential for annuitized revenue like none other. And as one moves from crazy college co-ed to buttoned-down professional, it is hard to stomach (if not completely unacceptable) tossing out one’s Facebook identity simply because of some youthful escapades that might not look too good when scrutinized as part of a background check. But this is a harsh reality. HR departments can and do go to Facebook to check out stuff on new hires; the cat is out of the bag on that one.
But while Facebook in college and shortly thereafter is a great way to remain connected to friends and keep them apprised of your goings on, it can quickly become a powerful business networking tool as one moves into the workforce and enters the next phase of life. But what about the problem of those embarrassing pictures from that tequila-fueled toga fest from when you were 19 years old on your profile? How about tagging all that stuff “Personal,” and only permitting certain types of friends to access this profile? Wouldn’t that be great? For me this isn’t an issue, since I was already a (relatively) mature guy by the time I got on Facebook (one month ago), and I don’t have any such pictures on my profile (fortunately digital photography was a glimmer in someone’s eye when I was in undergrad), but for those, say, two decades younger than me this is a real and serious issue. And what about family? Some may not want their moms, dads and Aunt Hildas checking out such Facebook content (should Aunt Hilda be surfing the web and digging for dirt). In fact, one may want a more sanitized version of their Personal profile to be available for viewing by Family members. This would seem to make sense as well.
And then there’s work. I use LinkedIn. I use Facebook. I personally want one app, one place where I can manage my social networks. LinkedIn is a great tool, but its social networking functionality, look and feel pretty much stink. Facebook provides a far richer, deeper, more dynamic and meaningful experience, one that I find very valuable in my professional life. Let’s get them together. Let me import my LinkedIn contacts into Facebook, into a profile called Professional. I don’t want to start building up a contacts database de novo by using one of the available Facebook apps - I want all my LinkedIn information incorporated into my Facebook profile. Now. These are two great companies with two great user bases that, over time, should meld into one. Let’s get the ball rolling. Today’s high schoolers will be in the work force in five years. Today’s college students less than that. These are the future Professional users. Let’s lay the foundation for them to build and manage three sub-profiles by implementing a tagging layer to separate one’s spheres - Personal, Family and Professional. To me it makes all the sense in the world. Now I just need for Mark Zuckerberg to hear my call.
I’m sure I’m the 7,453th person to come up with these ideas. I just haven’t read them. But I do think they make common sense and would cement Facebook’s primacy as THE social networking platform. But they gotta open it up, adopt a more comprehensive view of one’s life and social networks and facilitate the tagging of data to create these sub-profiles. I’ve got to believe that legacy Facebook users would love the comfort of knowing that they could safely add to their profiles without risking their jobs or freaking out their families. And isn’t this what identity management is all about?
